May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Lent 4 – Refreshment Sunday
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: March 30, 2003
TEXT: John 6:4-15 – The Feeding of the 5,000.
ISSUE: Shock and Awe: In the midst of the war with Iraq we must keep two things in mind: the prophetic utterance of the church through the Spirit of God, and the pastoral concerns of the military and their families. In the midst of the conflict, we must remember that Shock and Awe belongs to God, not to us.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This past week, Bishop Ihloff called together as many clergy from our Diocese that could be present to enter into a discussion with him concerning our countries war with Iraq. The Bishop felt that it was important for us to share with our people the stand that has been made by our Bishops in the Episcopal Church as well as mentioning the stand of some of the other major mainline Christian denominations. And it is important too that each of the clergy make clear to their own congregations what they felt about the war.
You should know that all of the bishops of the Episcopal Church were meeting together at a meeting of the House of Bishops just prior to the bombing of Baghdad. The Bishops who rarely agree on anything anymore, according to Bishop Ihloff, unanimously passed a resolution in opposition to our country going to war against Iraq. The feeling being, as I understand it was that pre-emptive strikes against Iraq, and any other country did not meet the criteria of what has long been established as a “Just War.” There is also a great concern over what appears to be an American arrogance in the United Nations, without a continuing negotiation and listening to other world leaders. The Archbishop of Canterbury has announced his opposition to the war. Not all bishops in England agree, but the majority of bishops do. It was also pointed out that the Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church is not in favor of this war. Note that the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic church are world wide communions of faith. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the retired Anglican bishop of South Africa is concerned that the United States of America does not know how to use the power that it has. The leadership of the Methodist church has also registered its opposition to the war. There is concern for the escalation of the conflict with other middle eastern countries, and a considerable irritation of the Israeli-Palestinian. More needs to be done through listening, and creative negotiation and patiently attempting to settle these issues.
The other side is that there are also many people, regardless of their religious denominational affiliation are in support of the war and our troops in the American Iraq war. Since the 9/11 event, it appears to many that the world has significantly changed, and that we must be more aggressive through pre-emptive strikes for the protection of American people and innocent people around the world who are being made to live in fear at the hand of terrorists and their insidious acts of cruel and what seems at times senseless violence. These are not exactly off the wall feelings and have their merit in these very difficult times.
What we must be so very careful about as Christians and as Americans is that while there are two sides to the story, we must all learn to listen to each other, and remember that no one of us, clergy, lay or Archbishops are likely to have the whole truth about this situation. If we become divided and become hateful and begin name calling, the evil forces of the world will have made great strides. We must not say that those who oppose the conflict are not patriotic. Neither must we say that those who agree with the armed intervention of Iraq is the result of warmongers, killers, and murderers. Name calling affords no solution. Healthy dialogue in this country is now, and always has been the way to understanding and acceptance of one another, and the way of love.
Bishop Ihloff pointed out in our discussions that while the leadership of the church may take a stand in its efforts to be prophetic, that the pulpit is not the only way, or even the best way for us to proclaim our views on the conflict. Sermons are inclined to be very one-way communication. Parish discussion with clergy and lay persons is more given in many instances to understanding that prophetic pronouncements from the pulpit.
Still another very major concern for all of the leadership of the church, and for the members of our congregations is to remember the importance of our pastoral role in the midst of this conflict. Many people in the Episcopal Church both serve or work for the government and the military forces of our country, especially here in Maryland. Many in these positions may have their own feelings about the action of our country in this conflict both pro and con. All men and women in the military are facing a real threat to their lives. Their families suffer from anxiety and fear for their loved ones, and they need all the support, and comfort that can be given to them by their church, their clergy, and their fellow Christian friends, parishioners, and families. There is in our bulletin each Sunday a list of the men and women from families in our parish that are serving in the Armed Forces of our country. The war and its constant coverage is also depressing to many people in the country whether they have family in the conflict or not. It is not fun to hear little else than the hardships, the pain and suffering that this conflict as brought about. With depression often comes anger and withdrawal. We need to be there for one another, and do what we can to offer the peace of the Lord to one another.
We must therefore be ready to listen to one another and for the voice of God’s spirit to help us keep within the realm of reason without hostile emotional outbursts that stifle reasonable thinking and contemplation. . There is nothing to be gained by hostile anger and division in the country or in the church, or among one another. In such a situation evil wins. We must all be open to other ideas and the heart felt feelings of one another. Mac Carthyism has no place in our country. The polarization we hear about conservatives and liberals on some of the popular radio stations is heart breaking. In my heart, I believe that the great great large majority of our people are solid citizens with varying views that come out of their backgrounds and thinking. As Christians and as Americans, we do have a commitment to respecting the dignity and views of all other folk.
As for myself, I lean toward Bishop Tutu’s statement concerning how we as a country use our power. I believe that a more patient stance in the United Nations would have been a better approach. For us to take a less aggressive stance and to work with and through the leadership of some of the other Arab states and people may well have been a better leadership approach to the situation than show our power and stamping our foot with 4,000 pound bombs. If I am naïve, it isn’t the first and won’t probably be the last. I am very sensitive to the fact that the explosions over Baghdad and the conflict in Iraq, and the dead men in the cities and deserts, both Iraqi and American, is traumatizing to the human spirit, and many people and especially children, and even our own children and military people. Like so many who came back traumatized from Vietnam by the horrors of war, we are in a similar situation.
I wish also to make very clear that I have every respect for the young men and women of our country that are serving in our armed forces. Many of them are following their call to serve this country, and often other peoples in the world as well. It takes very fine men and women to pick up the wounded enemy and carry them to safety and for medical attention. These men and women are following the instructions and orders of their leadership, which is the way that system works. All of us should not dare forget to honor and respect their sacrifice and their dedication to their country. We should take our Sunday bulletins home and remember the names of those listed, along with all the others, and keep their families in our prayers as well. Whether we like it or not, the military personnel are there in Iraq and they need our prayers and support.
Here are some final thoughts from me, or whatever they are worth. Enter into dialogue with one another. Listen and remember no one of us has the whole truth. But be careful about getting caught up in rhetoric and popular jargon. Remember your faith and the teachings of our Lord which needs to be and probably is in the hearts of all of us gathered here today. I have been especially disturbed by the popular phrase bantered about in this conflict that we will be “Shock and Awe” to Baghdad. The presumption that 4,000 pound bombs that light up the sky like a fireworks display, and reign down destruction are the great works of a mighty nation under God. This rhetoric has religious undertones that war is blessed by God. Please remember that every bomb takes its toll on human life, another life of God’s creation is snuffed out. Another one of God’s own creation is destroyed, some of our own.
Look to the heavens on a clear night, folks. There is shock and awe. The wonders of this marvelous creation, the stars and the galaxies are the might wonders of shock and awe in the universe. The coming of the mighty God to his people through the prophets, and through Moses leading his people out of oppression and evil, parting the Red Sea, is a salvation of shock and awe proportions. Raining down manna from heaven to hungry people is shock and awe. The coming of God in Jesus Christ as a Good Shepherd to his people, who leads them to green pastures, feeding his flock like a shepherd, with two little fish and five measly barley loaves is shock and awe! The immeasurable abundant grace of God in Jesus Christ who calls his own to turn the other cheek and to walk the extra mile, and who enters into dialogue at meals with his enemy is shock and awe. Shock and awe does not belong to us, in comparison to the mighty works of God, we have little power even though we sometimes attempt to delude ourselves into this kind of thinking.
The work of God now begins to heal, and bandage the broken, to rebuild the destroyed cities, to work diligently to embrace those traumatized by the conflict, and to help show the world as Christians what real shock and awe is, in our service with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sunday, March 30, 2003
Sunday, March 23, 2003
Lent 3
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Lent 3
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: March 23, 2003
TEXT: John 2:13-22 – Jesus Cleanses the Temple
The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
ISSUE: The temple was not only a place of worship, but also the political and economic center of the country. It was known to have become corrupt under Roman influence and by human nature. It was a symbol of the oppressive forces that maintained the status of the poor, and became cluttered in such a way as to prevent access to God. Jesus intervenes dramatically and puts himself at risk of great danger for his symbolic cleansing. He will become the new temple and access to God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all tell the story of Jesus cleansing the temple. It is one of the things that Jesus does that is very dangerous. In fact, the synoptic gospel accounts place the story very close to the end of Jesus’ ministry. Matthew, Mark, and Luke give the distinct impression that this cleansing of the Temple scene is the cause and last straw of Jesus’ ministry that results in his crucifixion. The Gospel of John, however, places the story near the beginning of Jesus ministry, as perhaps a belief that from the beginning Jesus is about the business of purifying religious access to God for all people. Wherever you place the story, it was apparently one of those very important stories and events in the life of Jesus that places it in all four accounts of the gospels.
To best understand the importance of the story it is important to understand the place and importance of the Jerusalem Temple. The new Jerusalem Temple construction began by Herod’s command in about 20 B.C.E. It was not completely finished until after the crucifixion of Jesus in 62 C.E. Once completed it didn’t last long, because the Romans destroyed it in 70 C.E. The Temple was not like a church or cathedral as we understand them today. The temple was the center of Judean life. It was a place of religious worship where major feasts like Passover was celebrated, requiring Jews from all over the known world to make a pilgrimage to the Temple, and for local Jewish men to worship annually at least. It was a place where offerings were made, and where animal sacrifices were offered.
The Temple was more than just a place of worship. It was also the political center of the Jews, and an economic center, a kind of national bank. It was what we might call the capital building as the religious center of worship. It was a very large construction. Isaiah’s vision of the Temple as the house of God was that it should be “a house of prayer for all people.” (Isa. 56:7) However, certain rules of Scripture prevented it from being a house of prayer for all people. Sick people, who were not perfect, like Eunuchs, lepers and leprosy of the time was not Hansen’s disease, the blind, the deaf, the mutes, and cripples were not allowed in the Temple. Foreigners were not allowed in the temple, expect in a certain court of the Gentiles. It was in the court of the Gentiles where the moneychangers and those who sold animal sacrifices did business.
Moneychangers changed Roman coinage into Temple coinage. The Roman and other foreign coinage had the images of Emperors and pagan gods on them, so they were unacceptable and had to be changed into Temple coins for offerings. There was, of course, a charge for making the exchange, which was burdensome for the poor. Animal sacrifices were a part of the worship of that time, for sin and thanksgiving. The animals had to be perfect, and without any kind of blemishes. If you brought your own animal, it had to be inspected to see if it was acceptable and without blemish. It was difficult for many to travel with animals, so they would buy and animal at the Temple, which was again quite costly for the poor, and almost everyone was poor. You may well get the picture by now. The Temple leaders were puppets of the Romans to whom they paid tax, and collected taxes from the poor, and charged the marketers who did business in the Temple Court who in turn had to make a living by over charging and cheating the poor. The whole system had become quite corrupt.
There was a group of monastic like Jewish men who had formed a kind of monastic order called the Qumran Community. So far as we know, Jesus was never a part of the Qumran party, but they were very strict in their observance of Jewish law. They bathed everyday as a sign of their longing for purity, and they wouldn’t go near the Jerusalem Temple because they viewed it as so very corrupt.
This fact is important for us to understand. When Jesus went into the Temple to throw out the animals and the merchants, and when he upset the tables of the money changers, scattering their coins all over, this act was not an action against his Jewish Faith. Jesus did not condemn Judaism. He was always a faithful Jew. He was angry, yes angry about the corruption and the oppression, and the cheating that went on in the Temple, and the demeaning of God’s Temple. God’s Temple was defamed by corruption and oppression of simple people who longed to be in the presence of God, and to have access to the holiness, the redemption, forgiveness, and love of God. The Temple did not convey that hope and presence, because all that was being crowded out by corruption and greed of the leadership. It had become a market place run by thieves! Thus, Jesus makes takes this very dangerous prophetic symbolic angry action and attempts to throw out the money changers and the dealers in animal sacrifices. Jesus didn’t get crucified because he was a nice peaceful kind of guy. He took this very dangerous action. The Gospel of John lays it on the line from the start; this is the kind of guy Jesus is, and Matthew, Mark, and Luke present this event as the cause of Jesus’ crucifixion.
Then, according to John, leaders ask Jesus to give them a sign for his authority in challenging the Temple leadership. “Destro this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” says Jesus. What was that supposed to mean? It means simply that Jesus for the early Christian community was the new way to the presence of God’s love and forgiveness. That’s what his entire ministry was about, clearing the way to the revelation of the marvelous glory of God for his people. You see, by the time the Temple is destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., the early church of Jesus is declaring that the new Temple is the risen Christ himself. Look to him, and you will find the unencumbered easy access to the presence of God’s love, and the entrance to the Kingdom, the gateway to the Kingdom of God. Jesus, you know according to John, is the Gate way, the door for the sheep, the way to the Realm, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven without delay or without barriers, and without corrupted cost.
You see this passage and story addresses the way we live today in terms our own economic, political, and religious lives. For the Christian they’re all related, and inseparable in much the same way they were for the people of Jesus’ time. All we do, and all we are has religious implications: how we use and spend our money, how we vote, how we use spare time, how we take time for prayer and reflection, how we make moral decisions, and how we see and proclaim God by the actions of our lives.
Like the people of Jesus’ time, our lives get cluttered. The way to the presence of God gets pushed aside. Telemarketers are out to get us. Radio, T.V., Cell phones, fax machines, newspapers, magazines, billboards, salesmen and women, old-fashioned landline telephones, the internet, clubs, sports, the church’s activities, school activities, fads and philosophies, new age stuff. All these things are out to get us. So much stuff demands our attentions. There are many demands. All of them vie for our attention. At our hearts, and what is basic to all of us as human beings is our human spirit. We are more than just a physical body living in a material world. Are we not? We say we have a soul, an inner being that is in the image of God. But if we lose sight of God, we lose sight of our souls, of our precious spiritual being. They world can tempt us away from the very heart of our being. We need a Temple, a focus, for being in union, resonant with God and our true being. From the time of the early church one of the greatest gifts of all for the world from God is Jesus Christ. In him we see our true humanity, and our way to godliness, and to the way of God, and our access to God. In him we see the justified prophetic fury and anger at a world that keeps us from the love and peace of God.
At the present we are embroiled in an ugly conflict with Iraq. We see some of the human condition at its worst in the evil of Saddam Hussein, and frustration of some of the world that can’t find another way expect through hostility and war to bring the peace. We see still others hanging on for patience, and trying to find another way. The world and our humanity is hardly perfect. We simply keep looking to Jesus Christ as the way to find the love and peace of God. We’ll have to learn from the lessons of the present, and keep asking God, help us to find peace in the world. Help us to bring to the surface the true human spirit of love and peace.
In all we do in terms of spending our money, does a sacrificial amount go to human need, and God’s glory? Do I give my blood for the human cause of healing? Do I vote from my religious convictions? Do I make moral decisions on the basis of convenience or what I personally want, or out a prayerful conviction of what God wants me to do, to believe. But we have to clear away the clutter, and all that separates us from the love of God. Jesus Christ has to be our hope, our way, our truth, the stuff of our life, and at the heart of our convictions. He has to be our Temple where we are led to the way of God.
Well you may say, I have good friends who think and believe very different from the way I do. They’re not especially bad people and they believe in God too. We are just different. How do we have the unity that we expect to come from our relationship with God? There is always going to be Republicans and Democrats, Hawks and Doves, Catholics and Protestants. That is the beauty of our world. God’s way is and marvelous and his ways and works are far beyond anyone person’s understanding. We just trust, believe, and place our loyalty in Jesus Christ that in the end the Spirit of God prevails and leads us all into the prevailing spirit of God’s love. In the respecting of the dignity of us all, we find ourselves in the communion of God our Father, where his Kingdom will come on earth, as it is in heaven.
SEASON: Lent 3
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: March 23, 2003
TEXT: John 2:13-22 – Jesus Cleanses the Temple
The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
ISSUE: The temple was not only a place of worship, but also the political and economic center of the country. It was known to have become corrupt under Roman influence and by human nature. It was a symbol of the oppressive forces that maintained the status of the poor, and became cluttered in such a way as to prevent access to God. Jesus intervenes dramatically and puts himself at risk of great danger for his symbolic cleansing. He will become the new temple and access to God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all tell the story of Jesus cleansing the temple. It is one of the things that Jesus does that is very dangerous. In fact, the synoptic gospel accounts place the story very close to the end of Jesus’ ministry. Matthew, Mark, and Luke give the distinct impression that this cleansing of the Temple scene is the cause and last straw of Jesus’ ministry that results in his crucifixion. The Gospel of John, however, places the story near the beginning of Jesus ministry, as perhaps a belief that from the beginning Jesus is about the business of purifying religious access to God for all people. Wherever you place the story, it was apparently one of those very important stories and events in the life of Jesus that places it in all four accounts of the gospels.
To best understand the importance of the story it is important to understand the place and importance of the Jerusalem Temple. The new Jerusalem Temple construction began by Herod’s command in about 20 B.C.E. It was not completely finished until after the crucifixion of Jesus in 62 C.E. Once completed it didn’t last long, because the Romans destroyed it in 70 C.E. The Temple was not like a church or cathedral as we understand them today. The temple was the center of Judean life. It was a place of religious worship where major feasts like Passover was celebrated, requiring Jews from all over the known world to make a pilgrimage to the Temple, and for local Jewish men to worship annually at least. It was a place where offerings were made, and where animal sacrifices were offered.
The Temple was more than just a place of worship. It was also the political center of the Jews, and an economic center, a kind of national bank. It was what we might call the capital building as the religious center of worship. It was a very large construction. Isaiah’s vision of the Temple as the house of God was that it should be “a house of prayer for all people.” (Isa. 56:7) However, certain rules of Scripture prevented it from being a house of prayer for all people. Sick people, who were not perfect, like Eunuchs, lepers and leprosy of the time was not Hansen’s disease, the blind, the deaf, the mutes, and cripples were not allowed in the Temple. Foreigners were not allowed in the temple, expect in a certain court of the Gentiles. It was in the court of the Gentiles where the moneychangers and those who sold animal sacrifices did business.
Moneychangers changed Roman coinage into Temple coinage. The Roman and other foreign coinage had the images of Emperors and pagan gods on them, so they were unacceptable and had to be changed into Temple coins for offerings. There was, of course, a charge for making the exchange, which was burdensome for the poor. Animal sacrifices were a part of the worship of that time, for sin and thanksgiving. The animals had to be perfect, and without any kind of blemishes. If you brought your own animal, it had to be inspected to see if it was acceptable and without blemish. It was difficult for many to travel with animals, so they would buy and animal at the Temple, which was again quite costly for the poor, and almost everyone was poor. You may well get the picture by now. The Temple leaders were puppets of the Romans to whom they paid tax, and collected taxes from the poor, and charged the marketers who did business in the Temple Court who in turn had to make a living by over charging and cheating the poor. The whole system had become quite corrupt.
There was a group of monastic like Jewish men who had formed a kind of monastic order called the Qumran Community. So far as we know, Jesus was never a part of the Qumran party, but they were very strict in their observance of Jewish law. They bathed everyday as a sign of their longing for purity, and they wouldn’t go near the Jerusalem Temple because they viewed it as so very corrupt.
This fact is important for us to understand. When Jesus went into the Temple to throw out the animals and the merchants, and when he upset the tables of the money changers, scattering their coins all over, this act was not an action against his Jewish Faith. Jesus did not condemn Judaism. He was always a faithful Jew. He was angry, yes angry about the corruption and the oppression, and the cheating that went on in the Temple, and the demeaning of God’s Temple. God’s Temple was defamed by corruption and oppression of simple people who longed to be in the presence of God, and to have access to the holiness, the redemption, forgiveness, and love of God. The Temple did not convey that hope and presence, because all that was being crowded out by corruption and greed of the leadership. It had become a market place run by thieves! Thus, Jesus makes takes this very dangerous prophetic symbolic angry action and attempts to throw out the money changers and the dealers in animal sacrifices. Jesus didn’t get crucified because he was a nice peaceful kind of guy. He took this very dangerous action. The Gospel of John lays it on the line from the start; this is the kind of guy Jesus is, and Matthew, Mark, and Luke present this event as the cause of Jesus’ crucifixion.
Then, according to John, leaders ask Jesus to give them a sign for his authority in challenging the Temple leadership. “Destro this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” says Jesus. What was that supposed to mean? It means simply that Jesus for the early Christian community was the new way to the presence of God’s love and forgiveness. That’s what his entire ministry was about, clearing the way to the revelation of the marvelous glory of God for his people. You see, by the time the Temple is destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., the early church of Jesus is declaring that the new Temple is the risen Christ himself. Look to him, and you will find the unencumbered easy access to the presence of God’s love, and the entrance to the Kingdom, the gateway to the Kingdom of God. Jesus, you know according to John, is the Gate way, the door for the sheep, the way to the Realm, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven without delay or without barriers, and without corrupted cost.
You see this passage and story addresses the way we live today in terms our own economic, political, and religious lives. For the Christian they’re all related, and inseparable in much the same way they were for the people of Jesus’ time. All we do, and all we are has religious implications: how we use and spend our money, how we vote, how we use spare time, how we take time for prayer and reflection, how we make moral decisions, and how we see and proclaim God by the actions of our lives.
Like the people of Jesus’ time, our lives get cluttered. The way to the presence of God gets pushed aside. Telemarketers are out to get us. Radio, T.V., Cell phones, fax machines, newspapers, magazines, billboards, salesmen and women, old-fashioned landline telephones, the internet, clubs, sports, the church’s activities, school activities, fads and philosophies, new age stuff. All these things are out to get us. So much stuff demands our attentions. There are many demands. All of them vie for our attention. At our hearts, and what is basic to all of us as human beings is our human spirit. We are more than just a physical body living in a material world. Are we not? We say we have a soul, an inner being that is in the image of God. But if we lose sight of God, we lose sight of our souls, of our precious spiritual being. They world can tempt us away from the very heart of our being. We need a Temple, a focus, for being in union, resonant with God and our true being. From the time of the early church one of the greatest gifts of all for the world from God is Jesus Christ. In him we see our true humanity, and our way to godliness, and to the way of God, and our access to God. In him we see the justified prophetic fury and anger at a world that keeps us from the love and peace of God.
At the present we are embroiled in an ugly conflict with Iraq. We see some of the human condition at its worst in the evil of Saddam Hussein, and frustration of some of the world that can’t find another way expect through hostility and war to bring the peace. We see still others hanging on for patience, and trying to find another way. The world and our humanity is hardly perfect. We simply keep looking to Jesus Christ as the way to find the love and peace of God. We’ll have to learn from the lessons of the present, and keep asking God, help us to find peace in the world. Help us to bring to the surface the true human spirit of love and peace.
In all we do in terms of spending our money, does a sacrificial amount go to human need, and God’s glory? Do I give my blood for the human cause of healing? Do I vote from my religious convictions? Do I make moral decisions on the basis of convenience or what I personally want, or out a prayerful conviction of what God wants me to do, to believe. But we have to clear away the clutter, and all that separates us from the love of God. Jesus Christ has to be our hope, our way, our truth, the stuff of our life, and at the heart of our convictions. He has to be our Temple where we are led to the way of God.
Well you may say, I have good friends who think and believe very different from the way I do. They’re not especially bad people and they believe in God too. We are just different. How do we have the unity that we expect to come from our relationship with God? There is always going to be Republicans and Democrats, Hawks and Doves, Catholics and Protestants. That is the beauty of our world. God’s way is and marvelous and his ways and works are far beyond anyone person’s understanding. We just trust, believe, and place our loyalty in Jesus Christ that in the end the Spirit of God prevails and leads us all into the prevailing spirit of God’s love. In the respecting of the dignity of us all, we find ourselves in the communion of God our Father, where his Kingdom will come on earth, as it is in heaven.
Sunday, March 16, 2003
Lent 2
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Lent 2
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: March 16,2003
TEXT: Mark 8:31-38 – Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
See also: Genesis 2:1-14 – Abraham and Issac Story of Sacrifice.
ISSUE: There is a great resistance to suffering in our culture. However, the Gospel calls the Christian Community to a unity with Jesus Christ and the cross. To take up the cross can mean being “branded” and marked as Christ’s own forever. For the first time, the Gospel refers to Jesus’ ministry as one of suffering as opposed to a triumphant militant leadership. God thinks very differently than the world thinks. The passage calls us to servanthood with Jesus Christ in total loyalty and “at-one-ment” with both Jesus Christ and our Christian fellowship. While the world often thinks war is an only solution to problems, God thinks differently, as we with Him enter a process of finding lasting peace.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
No doubt, one of the most troubling stories in the Hebrew Scriptures is the Story of Abraham’s Intended Sacrifice of His Son Isaac. It creates a lot of human anxiety. How can Abraham conceive of doing such a thing? Why would God demand such a thing, that a man should sacrifice his only son? To our way of thinking, the almost every aspect of the story is unthinkable, and disturbing. It is hardly a children’s Bible story, and not one you would want to read as a bedtime story. The story raises a lot of anxiety and concern over what is truly happening here that has value for the world today.
Still another biblical event that raises considerable anxiety is the section that we read from the Gospel of Mark. It also raises great anxiety for Peter. Just prior to this passage, Peter has made his great statement of faith that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. Peter’s understanding is that Jesus will become a triumphant leader of his people. He shall be in some way like King David, to bring liberation, establish a strong Kingdom of Israel and Judah, and bring economic success. Shortly after, Peter’s confession of faith in Jesus, Jesus begins to talk about his suffering, rejection by the leaders, his death, and resurrection. Peter rebukes Jesus, daring to confront the honor of his master. Peter does not want to hear about suffering, rejection, and death.
In our own world, we are not exactly unlike Peter. We don’t like to think of rejection, suffering, and death as life’s realities. We rejoice in our powerfulness, our affluence, and suffering and death are aspects of life we are inclined to reject. Smooth comfortable living is what we expect, demand, and enjoy, and expect. And if this way of life is not forthcoming, then, life is unacceptable.
In the Abraham and Isaac Story, it is helpful to understand that in ancient Canaanite culture and even in some ancient Hebrew cultures, it was expected that people would, in fact offer their first born sons to the gods, as a sacrifice in order to appease the anger of the gods, and to seek their blessings. Today, of course, we find this appalling, but various ancient cultures have participated in human sacrifice. Some biblical scholars believe that the Story of Abraham’s intended sacrifice of Isaac was a story that in fact brought an end to human sacrifice in the Hebrew and Canaanite cultures. At the last moment God stops Abraham from committing the slaughter, and assures Abraham that God will provide himself with the sacrifice. A ram trapped in the thicket with its horns, becomes the substitute sacrifice. But the real punch of the story, as it came down through the ages has been Abraham’s unquestioning faith and confidence in God. In spite of what must have been terrible anxiety for Abraham, he does follow where he believes God is leading. Abraham’s faithfulness and loyalty to God is truly his signature and claim to fame through the ages. He had previously at the call of God, left his home with family and possessions to leave his own land to find a new place at the call of God. He was a man of great faithfulness, in spite of what must have been great anxiety.
Peter’s confession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah, is also an act and commitment of great faith and trust in Jesus Christ. However, for the first time, Mark’s Gospel account has Jesus speaking of his rejection and death. This idea is unacceptable to Peter. But the time has come. God will provide the great sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. He will offer his own son. He will become the one whom God “didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made there, by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.” (Prayer Book, Rite I, p.334) That phrase covers all the bases. God has another idea very different from Peter’s and the worlds. Triumphant leaders, powers of the world and worldly glory come and they go. Nations rise and fall. But the sacrificial love of God in the offering of His Son Jesus Christ. The ultimate sacrifice has been made, and through Jesus Christ’s offering, it is finally made very clear that we all are loved, forgiven before we even ask, by the God who sacrifices his only son on our behalf. And St. Paul writes, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us form the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Still, a scary part remains: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Jesus calls his followers to take up their cross as well. Let’s be sure we don’t sentimentalize that call to ease our consciences. You may hear some people complain that they have to take care of their dear old mother, and that that is the cross they have to bear. It may be an inconvenience to our lives, but it is not a cross to bear. Its one of those things you do in life because we are human beings. Taking up the cross, according to Reginald Fuller and other biblical scholars meant to be branded. You’ve seen how cattle and some other animals are identified by branding, so that however they get mixed up in the pastures, when round up time comes, you know whose cattle are whose. The message here is to get yourself branded stamped with the cross of Jesus Christ and follow him in the way that says the sins of the world are taken away, proclaiming that message, and entering into a life of servanthood is what is important to our way of life and belief. At our baptism we are branded with the sign of the cross of Christ, and marked, sealed, branded, as Christ’s own forever. We are above all things members of his family of servanthood for the world. You can have all the power of the world, all the security you need, but if you do not have Jesus Christ as Lord and master of the family, and do not follow in his way than you life and mine do not amount to very much at all. Therefore, whether we life or die; whatever happens we are the Lord’s.
Yes, living branded with the cross, and being a follower of Jesus Christ can be anxiety producing. That is a part of the deal. Jesus’ prayer to take the cup of suffering away from him in the garden of Gethsemane was certainly a cry of his own anxiety. But he did follow the Father’s plan. But what Peter misses, and what most of us miss is the fact that once rejected, crucified, dead and buried. There is a resurrection to a new life. Jesus will undergo great suffering, rejection by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and after a time (three days) rise again. Therein we see the real power and glory of his life, as a faithful servant of the Lord God. The way men think is turned around. The life of Christ himself is a great reversal from the way the world thinks.
This time is one of great anxiety for all of us. We are facing a war with Iraq. It is tempting and appealing to use bombs and weapons to oust Saddam Hussein and to bring peace to the world. But that is the same old thing. It has never brought peace before. We have seen over and over again how force and power establishes cycles of revenge and continuing violence. We see a scenario where the greatest biggest, most wealthy and affluent, most militarily powerful, having the most weapons of mass destruction, stands over Iraq, a country the size of California. Our solution to disarming Iraq, and Saddam Hussein is to use our weapons of mass destruction to destroy his along with the possibility of killing thousands of innocent men women and children. It seems to be the easier more comfortable route.
We, however, many of us are branded with the cross of Christ. We are not branded with the glory of Rome that vanished a long time ago. We have something new to offer the world, patient suffering, and negotiation, diplomacy that is based in and on love, forgiveness and peace. We are called upon to break the cycle of revenge, violence, manipulation, bullying and force. Remember what John the Baptist said to the soldiers who came to him to be baptized: “Stop your bullying and force.” Enter upon, look forward to the new Kingdom of God.
In just a few weeks we may all be sitting down to watch a war on CNN, as if it were some kind of an international football game. We’ll know full well that we will win, and it will just be a matter of time until we get it over with. Hopefully, Hussein will be gone. Oil prices will drop, and the Stock Market will rise again. That will be a nice resurrection! Or will it? What we may more likely see is the resurrection of the Martrydom of Hussein, the possibility of increased terrorism at home and abroad, our reputation of being the world’s bully, and more hated than we already are, with little or no concern for the thoughts, opinions, concerns of the rest of the world. The situation may produce more anxiety than we know now, and have ever known. In the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ we saw the separation of God taken away. We saw the way of love, patience, peace, that humbled the world and that brought millions of people to their knees in adoration in the suffering servant upon the cross. We must decide what kind of resurrection do we want: The resurrection of continuing hell on earth, or the renew and hope of love, peace, justice, negotiation, diplomacy, forgiveness, love and patience? Pray for peace, indeed. Work for peace, be true and faithful to your branding!
SEASON: Lent 2
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: March 16,2003
TEXT: Mark 8:31-38 – Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
See also: Genesis 2:1-14 – Abraham and Issac Story of Sacrifice.
ISSUE: There is a great resistance to suffering in our culture. However, the Gospel calls the Christian Community to a unity with Jesus Christ and the cross. To take up the cross can mean being “branded” and marked as Christ’s own forever. For the first time, the Gospel refers to Jesus’ ministry as one of suffering as opposed to a triumphant militant leadership. God thinks very differently than the world thinks. The passage calls us to servanthood with Jesus Christ in total loyalty and “at-one-ment” with both Jesus Christ and our Christian fellowship. While the world often thinks war is an only solution to problems, God thinks differently, as we with Him enter a process of finding lasting peace.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
No doubt, one of the most troubling stories in the Hebrew Scriptures is the Story of Abraham’s Intended Sacrifice of His Son Isaac. It creates a lot of human anxiety. How can Abraham conceive of doing such a thing? Why would God demand such a thing, that a man should sacrifice his only son? To our way of thinking, the almost every aspect of the story is unthinkable, and disturbing. It is hardly a children’s Bible story, and not one you would want to read as a bedtime story. The story raises a lot of anxiety and concern over what is truly happening here that has value for the world today.
Still another biblical event that raises considerable anxiety is the section that we read from the Gospel of Mark. It also raises great anxiety for Peter. Just prior to this passage, Peter has made his great statement of faith that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. Peter’s understanding is that Jesus will become a triumphant leader of his people. He shall be in some way like King David, to bring liberation, establish a strong Kingdom of Israel and Judah, and bring economic success. Shortly after, Peter’s confession of faith in Jesus, Jesus begins to talk about his suffering, rejection by the leaders, his death, and resurrection. Peter rebukes Jesus, daring to confront the honor of his master. Peter does not want to hear about suffering, rejection, and death.
In our own world, we are not exactly unlike Peter. We don’t like to think of rejection, suffering, and death as life’s realities. We rejoice in our powerfulness, our affluence, and suffering and death are aspects of life we are inclined to reject. Smooth comfortable living is what we expect, demand, and enjoy, and expect. And if this way of life is not forthcoming, then, life is unacceptable.
In the Abraham and Isaac Story, it is helpful to understand that in ancient Canaanite culture and even in some ancient Hebrew cultures, it was expected that people would, in fact offer their first born sons to the gods, as a sacrifice in order to appease the anger of the gods, and to seek their blessings. Today, of course, we find this appalling, but various ancient cultures have participated in human sacrifice. Some biblical scholars believe that the Story of Abraham’s intended sacrifice of Isaac was a story that in fact brought an end to human sacrifice in the Hebrew and Canaanite cultures. At the last moment God stops Abraham from committing the slaughter, and assures Abraham that God will provide himself with the sacrifice. A ram trapped in the thicket with its horns, becomes the substitute sacrifice. But the real punch of the story, as it came down through the ages has been Abraham’s unquestioning faith and confidence in God. In spite of what must have been terrible anxiety for Abraham, he does follow where he believes God is leading. Abraham’s faithfulness and loyalty to God is truly his signature and claim to fame through the ages. He had previously at the call of God, left his home with family and possessions to leave his own land to find a new place at the call of God. He was a man of great faithfulness, in spite of what must have been great anxiety.
Peter’s confession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah, is also an act and commitment of great faith and trust in Jesus Christ. However, for the first time, Mark’s Gospel account has Jesus speaking of his rejection and death. This idea is unacceptable to Peter. But the time has come. God will provide the great sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. He will offer his own son. He will become the one whom God “didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made there, by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.” (Prayer Book, Rite I, p.334) That phrase covers all the bases. God has another idea very different from Peter’s and the worlds. Triumphant leaders, powers of the world and worldly glory come and they go. Nations rise and fall. But the sacrificial love of God in the offering of His Son Jesus Christ. The ultimate sacrifice has been made, and through Jesus Christ’s offering, it is finally made very clear that we all are loved, forgiven before we even ask, by the God who sacrifices his only son on our behalf. And St. Paul writes, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us form the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Still, a scary part remains: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Jesus calls his followers to take up their cross as well. Let’s be sure we don’t sentimentalize that call to ease our consciences. You may hear some people complain that they have to take care of their dear old mother, and that that is the cross they have to bear. It may be an inconvenience to our lives, but it is not a cross to bear. Its one of those things you do in life because we are human beings. Taking up the cross, according to Reginald Fuller and other biblical scholars meant to be branded. You’ve seen how cattle and some other animals are identified by branding, so that however they get mixed up in the pastures, when round up time comes, you know whose cattle are whose. The message here is to get yourself branded stamped with the cross of Jesus Christ and follow him in the way that says the sins of the world are taken away, proclaiming that message, and entering into a life of servanthood is what is important to our way of life and belief. At our baptism we are branded with the sign of the cross of Christ, and marked, sealed, branded, as Christ’s own forever. We are above all things members of his family of servanthood for the world. You can have all the power of the world, all the security you need, but if you do not have Jesus Christ as Lord and master of the family, and do not follow in his way than you life and mine do not amount to very much at all. Therefore, whether we life or die; whatever happens we are the Lord’s.
Yes, living branded with the cross, and being a follower of Jesus Christ can be anxiety producing. That is a part of the deal. Jesus’ prayer to take the cup of suffering away from him in the garden of Gethsemane was certainly a cry of his own anxiety. But he did follow the Father’s plan. But what Peter misses, and what most of us miss is the fact that once rejected, crucified, dead and buried. There is a resurrection to a new life. Jesus will undergo great suffering, rejection by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and after a time (three days) rise again. Therein we see the real power and glory of his life, as a faithful servant of the Lord God. The way men think is turned around. The life of Christ himself is a great reversal from the way the world thinks.
This time is one of great anxiety for all of us. We are facing a war with Iraq. It is tempting and appealing to use bombs and weapons to oust Saddam Hussein and to bring peace to the world. But that is the same old thing. It has never brought peace before. We have seen over and over again how force and power establishes cycles of revenge and continuing violence. We see a scenario where the greatest biggest, most wealthy and affluent, most militarily powerful, having the most weapons of mass destruction, stands over Iraq, a country the size of California. Our solution to disarming Iraq, and Saddam Hussein is to use our weapons of mass destruction to destroy his along with the possibility of killing thousands of innocent men women and children. It seems to be the easier more comfortable route.
We, however, many of us are branded with the cross of Christ. We are not branded with the glory of Rome that vanished a long time ago. We have something new to offer the world, patient suffering, and negotiation, diplomacy that is based in and on love, forgiveness and peace. We are called upon to break the cycle of revenge, violence, manipulation, bullying and force. Remember what John the Baptist said to the soldiers who came to him to be baptized: “Stop your bullying and force.” Enter upon, look forward to the new Kingdom of God.
In just a few weeks we may all be sitting down to watch a war on CNN, as if it were some kind of an international football game. We’ll know full well that we will win, and it will just be a matter of time until we get it over with. Hopefully, Hussein will be gone. Oil prices will drop, and the Stock Market will rise again. That will be a nice resurrection! Or will it? What we may more likely see is the resurrection of the Martrydom of Hussein, the possibility of increased terrorism at home and abroad, our reputation of being the world’s bully, and more hated than we already are, with little or no concern for the thoughts, opinions, concerns of the rest of the world. The situation may produce more anxiety than we know now, and have ever known. In the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ we saw the separation of God taken away. We saw the way of love, patience, peace, that humbled the world and that brought millions of people to their knees in adoration in the suffering servant upon the cross. We must decide what kind of resurrection do we want: The resurrection of continuing hell on earth, or the renew and hope of love, peace, justice, negotiation, diplomacy, forgiveness, love and patience? Pray for peace, indeed. Work for peace, be true and faithful to your branding!
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